State Directory

Category: Maine

PORTLAND, ME – – Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap announced last week that proponents of a new casino in southern Maine have submitted signatures for “An Act to Allow Slot Machines or a Casino in York County.” If enough signatures are verified as registered Maine voters, that means Mainers could vote on the issue during a statewide referendum in 2017. A similar bid to put the question on a ballot failed earlier this year after Dunlap ruled more than half of 91,000 signatures submitted were found to be invalid.

UNCASVILLE, CT – Mohegan Sun welcomes four new offerings to the property. Splendeur A Luxury Boutique, Chick-fil-A, Steiner Sports and Kiehl’s opened their doors to the public in November.

Splendeur A Luxury Boutique is a luxury boutique offering some of the world’s most prestigious brands including Gucci, Versace, Balenciaga, Givenchy, and Georgio Armani to name just a few. Lavish in luxury with products for women and men from the French and Italian fashion houses including handbags, small leather goods, silk scarfs, shirts, ties, eyewear, fragrances, jewelry and watches.

Chick-fil-A’s fifth location in Connecticut is located across from Carlo’s Bakery in Casino of the Earth and near a future entrance to Earth Tower, the restaurant joins the 30 other dining options available on site.

Steiner Sports is the world leader in sports experiences and authentic sports memorabilia, and has spent 30 years building relationships with more than 2,000 athletes and major sports leagues.

Kiehl’s specializing in premium skin, hair, and body care products, will be located in The Shops concourse. Founded as an old-world apothecary in New York’s East Village, Kiehl’s unique, extensive background represents a blend of cosmetic, pharmaceutical, herbal and medicinal knowledge developed and passed on through the generations.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – – A federal judge ruled on Friday that poker pro Phil Ivey and a companion violated state gambling regulations in the way they won nearly $10 million at cards at an Atlantic City casino.

U.S. District Court Judge Noel Hillman determined that the pair did not meet their obligation to follow gambling regulations on four occasions in 2012 by having a dealer at the Borgata arrange Baccarat cards so they could tell what kind of card was coming next.

By shifting the odds in their favor, they violated the New Jersey Casino Control Act, the judge ruled. He threw out allegations by the Borgata that the pair had committed fraud, and the casino now has 20 days to outline the damages it says it suffered.

“Borgata and Ivey had the same goal when they entered into their arrangement: to profit at the other’s expense,” the judge wrote. “Trust is a misplaced sentiment in this context.”

Ivey has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets. Lawyers for him and the casino did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

The Borgata claimed the pair exploited a defect in cards that enabled them to sort and arrange good cards. The casino says the technique, called edge sorting, violates state casino gambling regulations. But Ivey asserts his win was simply the result of skill and good observation.

The Borgata claims the cards used in the games were defective in that the pattern on the back was not uniform. The cards have rows of small white circles designed to look like the tops of cut diamonds, but the Borgata says some of them were only half-diamonds or quarters. Ivey has said he simply noticed things that anyone playing the game could have observed and bet accordingly.

The judge noted that Ivey and companion player Cheng Yin Sun instructed dealers to arrange the cards in a certain way, which is permitted under the rules of the game, after Sun noticed minute differences in them. But he ruled those actions did violate state Casino Control Act and their contractual obligation to abide by it in gambling at the casino.

Ivey and Sun, the judge wrote, “view their actions to be akin to cunning, but not rule-breaking, maneuvers performed in many games, such as a play-action pass in American football, or the ‘Marshall swindle’ in chess.”

He said “Sun’s mental acumen” in distinguishing the tiny differences in the patterns on the back of the cards was “remarkable.”

“But even though Ivey and Sun’s cunning and skill did not break the rules of Baccarat,” the judge wrote, “what sets Ivey and Sun’s actions apart from deceitful maneuvers in other games is that those maneuvers broke the rules of gambling as defined in this state.”

REVERE, MASS. – – Voters overwhelmingly rejected a slots parlor near the shuttered Suffolk Downs race track. In a lopsided 65 to 35 percent vote Tuesday…Voters in every one of the city’s 21 precincts rejected Tuesday’s non-binding initiative petition that sought approval for any future slot parlor license awarded in Revere to be located on a site that fronts Revere Beach Parkway, Winthrop Parkway and Pratt Court.

LAS VEGAS – – John Katsilometes, Las Vegas Review-Journal – At once classic and all-new, Cher is returning her stage extravaganza to the Strip. Announced Tuesday morning is “Classic Cher” at Park Theater at Monte Carlo, opening Feb. 8 and running 18 dates. The first set of dates run through February, with her return in May, with additional dates to be announced.

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut authorities have identified the man who was shot by a tribal police officer and fell from the fourth floor of a parking garage yesterday at the Foxwoods Resort Casino.

State police identified the man Wednesday as 23-year-old Michael Goodale, of Groton. Conn.

The shooting happened at around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Fox Tower parking garage at the Foxwoods Resort and Casinio.

State police say Goodale was wanted by police for violating his probation. The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal police attempted to arrest Goodale in the parking garage, where police say Goodale pointed a gun at officers.

State police say at least one officer discharged at least one round. Goodale then fell to the pavement below. It wasn’t clear whether he died from the shooting or the fall. No other injuries were reported.

The summer season has come and gone in Atlantic City, and despite an initial mid-June opening date, the former Revel casino remains shuttered — and owner Glenn Straub, who bought it out of bankruptcy, earlier this month threatened to leave town after clashing with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.

But there is a significant movement in the beautiful property that’s been closed for longer than it’s been open: a new name. Revel is now called TEN.

“The number ten depicts the highest standard of achievement and is widely recognized as the benchmark of quality and excellence,” TEN spokesman Bob Labanara said in a release. “The TEN brand appropriately reflects its idyllic beachfront setting and complete guest experience as Atlantic City’s flagship property. The TEN experience offers unrivaled elegance and affordable luxury for all that includes world-class rooms and suites, spas, pools, nightlife and day club escapes, gourmet dining, retail, a-list entertainment and gaming.”

The casino has even launched a website for the new casino/hotel, TENacnj.com. A spokesman for the casino says it will open in the first quarter of 2017, pending New Jersey licensing approvals.

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. — Connecticut authorities say an armed casino patron was shot and killed by a tribal police officer during a confrontation in a parking garage of Foxwoods Resort Casino.

The shooting happened at around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Fox Tower parking garage at the Mashantucket resort.

State police say there was an outstanding arrest warrant for the patron, whom authorities haven’t named. The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal police confronted the patron in the parking garage, where police say the patron produced a weapon, and shots were fired. The patron was killed. No other injuries were reported.

The Connecticut State Police Major Crimes Unit is investigating the shooting.